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Good concept, poorly executed.

A waste of 90 minutes of my life

Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

Songs by Harry Warren (music) and Al Dubin (lyrics): "Dames" (Powell and chorus; danced by Keeler), "I Only Have Eyes For You" (Powell; reprised by Powell, Keeler and chorus), "Shuffle Off To Buffalo" (chorus), "The Girl At the Ironing Board" (Blondell). Song by Allie Wrubel (music) and Mort Dixon (lyrics): "Try To See It My Way" (Powell, reprised Blondell and chorus). Song by Sammy Fain and Irving Kahal: "When You Were a Smile On Your Mother's Lips" (Powell). Copyright 3 October 1934 by Warner Brothers Pictures, Inc. New York opening at the Strand: 15 August 1934. U.S. release: 1 September 1934. U.K. release: 23 February 1935. Australian release: 8 May 1935. 10 reels. 91 minutes. SYNOPSIS: An ambitious songwriter (Dick Powell) has penned a whole Broadway show. He lacks only one thing-a backer!COMMENT: Following the landslide success of 42nd Street, Warner Bros spent many a mighty dollar in their efforts to surpass that musical breakthrough. Thanks to Busby Berkeley's continued inventiveness, plus five extra-tuneful songs, Dames certainly tops even the great entertainment offered by 42nd. My favorite number in this movie is "I Only Have Eyes For You". It's not only one of the loveliest melodies Harry Warren ever composed but it's so dazzlingly staged by Berkeley with so many Ruby Keeler look-alikes cavorting around the set, it's hard to tell where the real Ruby stands. Oddly, Warren himself did not particularly like the number. "Buzz never knows when to quit," he complained. "On screen they go through the song about twenty-five times. I got sick of hearing it over and over again. At the end, I began to hate it!" When the screen is not filled by Busby's choreographic spectacles, the ingenious variation on the basically familiar story contrived by Robert Lord and Delmer Daves, and abetted on screen by such expert clowns as Hugh Herbert and Guy Kibbee, delivers plenty of laughs too. As for Blondell, Powell and Keeler, they're just wonderful!

With 25 minutes to go, I opened up a browser window to IMDb and went ahead and gave this film a 3-star rating. Yes, it had the origin of the classic song "I Only Had Eyes for You", but was otherwise mediocre most of the time, and anywhere from inane or offensive the rest of the time. Even an ear-catching bit of very non-timeless dialog like, "I can do what I want! I'm free, white, and 21!" Worst of all, with 25 minutes to go, no vintage dazzling Berkeley choreography. It was obvious why it was not to be mentioned in the same breath as "42nd Street", "Footlight Parade", or "Gold Diggers of 1933."Then...wow! Berkeley choreography/cinematography goes into overdrive! Some of the wackiest, most beautiful visually stunning pieces ever featuring Berkeley's movement, Ruby Keeler's face (several of them, in fact), some amazing dissolves, and the beautiful black and white images dominate the last third of the film. I wish the first hour wasn't so underwhelming, but the rest of it does its best to make up for it!

'Dames' is a bit like two movies in one – the first, the drab build- up to the second, with a millionaire played by Hugh Herbert giving his money away to relatives under the condition that they lead moral lives. Herbert is horribly miscast and in several goofy, groan- inducing scenes. The only bright spots in the first hour of the 91 minute film are Dick Powell singing "I Only Have Eyes For You" on a ferry to Ruby Keeler, with older couples looking on, and the always- fun Joan Blondell, whose character scents a possible gold mine.On the other hand, the 'second movie', that last half hour, is brilliant. Here the incomparable Busby Berkeley takes over, and gives us several enchanting musical numbers. You'll have to ignore the fact that there's no way these performances would fit on a stage which is the premise, but who cares. The Joan Blondell led washer- woman number "The Girl at the Ironing Board" has some fun special effects, with clothes moving on their own, and segues briefly into music from Mendelssohn-Bartholdy and Saint-Saëns. "I Only Have Eyes for You" is then reprised, with Powell singing to Keeler again, this time with people disappearing from crowded places and Keeler's face replacing other women's in advertisements to mirror the lyrics. It then segues into a wild dream sequence with an ensemble dancing about with giant cutouts of Keeler's face, sashaying around on giant stairways (one of them circular), and reassembling the poster of her face in puzzle-like fashion brilliantly by folding over the backs of their dresses. Berkeley then uses camera tricks to have Keeler appear out of her own eye and become miniaturized again onto the back of a mirror before waking up. Powell then romantically carries her across deserted train tracks. It's fantastic, and whatever you say about Keeler's dancing (which does leave a lot to be desired), she's charming in this performance.The title song "Dames" is then sung by Powell, with wonderful tight shots on pretty faces, followed by a dance number with the dames (er, women) waking up, bathing, applying makeup, and then going in to the movie studios to perform numbers which make beautiful geometric patterns with their legs while shot overhead, among many other things. You have to youtube some of these to see the genius and creativity of Busby Berkeley.It's unfortunate that the title was "Dames", based on the song of the same name, with the borderline-ugh lyrics like "What do you go for, go see a show for? Tell the truth, you go to see those beautiful dames", when it could have been "I Only Have Eyes For You", with romantic lyrics like "Are the stars out tonight? I don't know if it's cloudy or bright, 'cause I only have eyes for you, dear", which would inspire countless covers over all of the decades to the present. It's also unfortunate that the movie was made after the Hays code was in effect, with the result meaning that one of the musical numbers didn't make it to the screen, as well as (apparently) Blondell inviting everyone to see her cat with the line "come up and see my pussy sometime". It's a hard movie to rate and far from perfect, but "I Only Have Eyes For You" and the musical numbers by Busby Berkeley are wonderful and carry the day for me.

From 1929 until the late 1930s, Hollywood made a ton of films that followed a very similar pattern. There was a thin story that was more an explanation and excuse for the HUGE production numbers to come. This plot almost always had to do with something that threatened to cancel the 'big show'. Despite many thinking Busby Berkeley only directed films like this or that all these films were Berkeley movies, they weren't. But the ones with the wildest production numbers so often did end up being his films--and he always seemed to try to outdo himself--resulting in some VERY crazy films! Seen today, people are often in shock at these numbers--with huge swimming pools, dozens and dozens of pretty dancing girls, sparklers, enormous sets and the like. But, even if you don't like them, you have to admit it took a lot of work and talent to direct and choreograph these peculiar films! The thing that threatens to stop the show is a blue-nose (Hugh Herbert)---a moralist who threatens to pull financing from the show because it features, uh-oh,...dancing girls! While Herbert is best an acquired taste (one I have never managed to acquire), Guy Kibbee was his usual fun self. As for the singers and dancers, the very familiar Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler are the leads. None of the story particularly excited me, but there were a few nice songs (such as "You Ought To Be in Pictures") and the production numbers were...well...crazy and complicated. None of this is in the least bit innovative or different from a couple dozen other films, but it is pleasant and well-made. While not nearly the quality of the better musicals like "Footlight Parade" or "42nd Street", if you like the genre this is a pleasant, if predictable, film.